Jewellery chain Goodwin sealed; several were cheated

Thane, Oct 28 : Jewellery chain Goodwin was sealed in the wake of thousands of customers approaching police to register their case against the jewellers since Saturday in Vasai.

A case has been registered under the provisions of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act to the already registered cases under sections 420 rw 34 of the IPC against the management personnel of the shop the police said on Monday.Thousands of people from all over, mostly women from Kerala, had invested a lot in the saving scheme of the shop which wooed customers by using different methods.Manickpur police API Sudhir Zahirkar dismissed the rumour that the shop was open on Sunday and some people were taking out some materials.

Those who invested include working women, housewives, rickshaw drivers, vegetable vendors and even retired persons.

The Kalyan police are to obtain a lookout for the duo--Sunil Kumar and Sudeesh Kumar-- who own the shop and are at large currently.A couple of years back, the RBI had issued specific directions restricting non-banking financial companies from accepting deposits. The jewellery firms were also covered under that besides the chit fund operators.

In a related development, the FB account and the website of the Shop has been rendered not accessible immediately following the emerging of the episode.A source from the Thane city police told this correspondent that the police might hand over the probe into the multi-crore fraud to the EOW of the city police for further probe.

An officer at the Naupada police station in Thane city said the police has registered the offence against the shop owners at the police station and were recording the statements of the complainants.(UNI)